In this series of four sessions, Professor West will highlight some of the most important ideas of ancient Greek philosophers – their speculative scientific theories as well as their philosophical claims. The format will be informal with discussion encouraged. No assigned readings, no papers, no quizzes, no grades!

Western philosophy and much of the Western intellectual tradition was born in ancient Greece with the writings and ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Their questions and ideas about the nature of truth, beauty and justice are fundamental to our understanding of literature, the evolution of science, our aesthetic criteria, and present-day ethics and politics. Their views informed much modern philosophy and had a profound influence on Christian thought. As English philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato" (Process and Reality).